If nothing else, Steve Earle has lived a colorful life. Armed with an eighth-grade education, a wild streak and the gift of song, he left home at 16 to travel the expanses of Texas with an uncle and by the time he was 18 Earle had married for the first of seven times.
After making his way to Nashville where he worked for several years as a contract songwriter — Johnny Lee and Carl Perkins were among the artists who recorded his songs — Steve Earle began his recording career in 1986 with the album Guitar Town, and from that point forward controversy seemed to shadow him wherever he went. At first it was innocuous stuff: the country crowd said he wasn't country enough and the rock set dismissed him as too country. Then it got ugly as Earle spiraled downward into substance abuse and regular run-ins with the law; when he finally shook the monkeys from his back, his far-left political views surfaced to rub some the wrong way.
In addition to being a prolific songwriter, Steve Earle is an accomplished author and playwright — his outspoken anti-war stance shades almost all of his efforts. Together with his wife, alt-country singer Allison Moorer, he's ensconced in Greenwich Village; he also hosts The Steve Earle Show: Hard Core Troubadour Radio weekly on Sirius Satellite Radio, and has a recurring role as a recovering addict on the HBO series The Wire.
In the fall of 2007 he released Washington Square Serenade, his eleventh album.
Provenance: Born in Virginia, raised in Texas, and after years of living in Nashville he now calls New York City home.
Latest release: Washington Square Serenade (2007)
© 2007 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
Steve Earle
